Image from the title page of the report

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Today, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury released the second of its reports for the 2022-2023 year — and if anyone expected it to continue on in the celebratory vein of the first one, on the county’s election systems .. well, they are in for a disappointment.

This second report takes aim at what the GJ calls the “dysfunctional” state of child welfare services in Humboldt County — and not just the county department nominally in charge of those things, but the county’s entire system for handling children who are victims of abuse or neglect.

In short, while the Grand Jury found that the people who work for the county’s Child Welfare Services division care deeply about the health and welfare of the children they work to protect, there are serious problems with morale, stress, overwork and burnout among employees — much of it, according to the Grand Jury, caused by understaffing. 

Not only has this led to what several people characterized as a “toxic” work environment within the department; additionally, it has led directly to the missing of state-mandated paperwork deadlines dealing with cases of abuse or neglect.

What to do? The GJ’s main recommendations all revolve around beefing up and streamlining the recruitment process for new employees. Currently, the jury says, the Child Welfare Services department only has a recruitment relationship with the Social Work department at Cal Poly Humboldt. There are many more pools to draw from.

Download the complete Grand Jury report here. Press release from the Humboldt County Grand Jury:

The 2022-23 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury) Grand Jury has just released its first report of the year entitled Humboldt County Child Welfare Services and the Courts: Late Reports, Dysfunctional Systems, and Traumatized Children.

The 2022-23 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury received a complaint that Child Welfare Services routinely misses statutory deadlines for submitting reports to the Humboldt County Superior Court.

These delays create unnecessary stress for children and families.

Over the last decade the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury has investigated numerous complaints about the Department of Health and Human Services. While the nature of those complaints have differed, the introduction to the 2015-2016 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report stating—“those complaints conveyed dysfunctional work guidelines, distrustful working relationships, unresponsive upper management, mass resignations, and an unsupportive work environment” —largely reflects the essence of our current report. This 2022-23 report argues for significant changes in Child Welfare Services.

Child Welfare Services is charged with one of the most valued functions of our county government. Their job is to intervene when abuse or neglect is suspected or evident and make the best decisions for that child’s well-being. Not having enough social workers has resulted in case overload and missed mandated court reports. Institutional roadblocks regarding staffing, overtime, and child and family attorney interactions with County Counsel have all slowed the court process and possible family reunification.

Everyone we interviewed connected with CWS for this investigation has demonstrated a genuine passion for improving the lives of children here in Humboldt County. However, they all confirmed that the lack of staffing, recruitment and retention, lengthy hiring and vetting processes, high caseloads, long hours, high staff turnover, absenteeism, moral injury, and bureaucratic red tape is causing job burnout.

This report examines the causes and effects of the court report delays and the understaffed departments at CWS. It looks at ways CWS can employ non-traditional ways to improve staff recruitment, hiring, and retention, which ultimately will lead to the timely permanent placement of our children, Humboldt County’s most precious resource.

The intent of the 2022-23 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury is to support an understaffed and overworked Child Welfare Services agency and the child dependency legal system by informing the citizens of Humboldt County of its findings and making long-term positive impacts with its recommendations.